Authorities in the US have refused to return 137,000 kroner that was confiscated from a Danish policeman who attempted to legally purchase Cuban cigars from Germany.

Torben Nødskouv intended to resell the cigars through his small business Cigarhuset and made the transaction in dollars with a Hamburg-based distributor. But the transaction, which was automatically routed through the US, was picked up by American authorities who froze the money, arguing that the transaction violated the American trade embargo with Cuba.

Nødskouv appealed after the $20,000 transaction was frozen last autumn, but the money may be permanently lost after he was recently informed that it would not be returned to him.

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

Protecting America from the Red Menace by stepping on defenseless small capital entrepreneurship through control of the banking system... No wonder America felt the need to blow gazillions saving the banks: how else are they going to keep Danish policemen and Fidel Castro in line?

When a senior detective re-opened a notorious murder inquiry, the suspects were able to intimidate his wife and family with the help of an executive at the News of the World, the Leveson inquiry has been told.

Making one of the gravest Leveson allegations so far, former Crimewatch presenter Jacqui Hames, the then wife of Detective Chief Superintendent Dave Cook, broke down in tears as she accused the paper's then editor Rebekah Brooks of covering up the real reason why her family were targeted.

The intimidation was carried out after an offer of a £50,000 reward on Hames's Crimewatch programme for fresh information on the murder of Daniel Morgan, a partner in a private detective agency.

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

Chris Bryant, the Labour MP, has claimed that in light of recent revelations the News International phone-hacking scandal could turn out to be the biggest case of corporate corruption in the UK for more than 250 years.

Bryant told a Westminster Hall private members' debate on media regulation on Tuesday that his "poor researcher" had counted 486 lies told to parliament by News International, the police and other organisations about phone hacking and related investigations.

The Metropolitan police, which is attempting to resist claims that it has been too close to Rupert Murdoch's News International, has confirmed it loaned Rebekah Brooks a police horse.

Brooks is the former chief executive of News International, who was forced to resign amid the phone-hacking scandal.

On Monday, the Leveson inquiry heard she had received extensive information from a police officer about the Met's first investigation into phone hacking, while News International was under criminal investigation.

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

The names of 14 current and former MPs and 10 peers have so far been found in materials seized from private investigator Glenn Mulcaire by police investigating phone-hacking, it was revealed today.

The officer in charge of the investigation told a parliamentary committee that, among those named, 14 MPs and four peers were "likely victims of phone-hacking".

Metropolitan Police deputy assistant commissioner Sue Akers, who is leading the Operation Weeting inquiry, said that all the individuals involved have been informed.

Ms Akers told the House of Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee, which is carrying out its own investigation into hacking: "Our inquiries continue and there is a possibility that further MPs and peers may yet be identified and contacted.

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

Although that revelation yesterday added yet another interesting line of inquiry which I hope will bear fruit and lead to deep time prison sentences for some, another one looks particularly bad for Rupe

Deadline Hollywood has revealed that the Met has advised Hollywood music agent Julie Colbert that her phone may have been hacked. Ms Colbert may not have been of interest to Rupe's troops, but one of her clients - singer Charlotte Church, who has just settled out of court for a sum rumoured to be not unadjacent to £500,000 - certainly was.

Ms Church had stayed at the Colbert house for some months as a means of putting some distance between herself and the pack of hacks and snappers that had been in constant pursuit back in the UK. Ms Colbert had travelled extensively between Los Angeles and London, so it's possible that her phone was hacked in the UK.

But Mulcaire's notes apparently contain several US numbers.

These include Ms Church's publicist Kevin Chiaramonte, who works out of New York, and that of Ms Colbert. As Bloomberg has diplomatically put it, "The presence of the U.S. phone numbers in Mulcaire's notes also may complicate the company's effort there to contain lawsuits".

We all know that the thumb of money lies heavily on the scales of justice, most especially for the owner of Faux Noose, but then again it certainly looks interesting

The German parliament approved the second bailout of Greece lastnight, backing Chancellor Angela Merkel's call to support the130bn (£110bn) measure by 496 to 90 despite her admittance thatthere was "no 100 per cent guarantee" it would be a success.

The vote was also passed despite widespread scepticism among the German electorate,

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

Baltasar Garzón, Spain's superstar human rights judge known fortaking on high-profile international cases, was acquitted yesterdayon charges of overstepping his jurisdiction by launching aninvestigation into right-wing atrocities during and after theSpanish Civil War.

Mr Garzón misinterpreted Spanish law but did not do so knowingly, the Supreme Court justices said in their 6-1 vote and 63-page ruling.

The ruling comes a month after he was barred from the bench for 11 years after being found guilty of similar charges in a separate domestic corruption probe. Mr Garzón has said he may appeal that cas

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

The Irish cabinet decided to hold a referendum on the ESM Treaty after receiving legal advice from the attorney general; the argument is that the treaty is outside the legal architecture of the EU; referendum is expected to take place in May or June; a No vote might mean that Ireland might not be eligible to receive funds under the ESM; polls show that a narrow majority favour to support the treaty; Ireland's main opposition party Fianna Fail says it will support the government in the Yes campaign; the German constitutional court strikes down a secret parliamentary committee to monitor the ESM; committee can only be used for secondary market bond purchases; the Bundestag must now set up a structures that is more transparent and representative; the Dutch parliament approved the second Greek loan programme; the Greek parliament approved cuts in defence, investment and pensions; the Greek cabinet also agrees to a 22% cut in the standard minimum wage to 751 per month; Jean-Claude Juncker says he wants a EU Commissioner with the special task of co-ordinating the Greek reconstruction efforts; the troika has completed a positive report on Portugal, paving the way for the next loan tranche; Vitor Gaspar says that he can reach the 4.5% deficit target for this year without further measures; ECB says Greek bonds are no longer acceptable as collateral for now; EFSF collateral scheme is not yet in place, as a result of which the gap is covered through recourse to the central banks' emergency liquidity assistance; Fitch gives an extreme sceptical assessment of the impact of the ECB's liquidity operations; the Dutch finance minister says an agreement to extend the ESM and the EFSF is likely by March or April; French opinion polls show Nicolas Sarkozy closing the polling in the first round, but Francois Hollande has a 10 point lead in the second round; Wolfgang Munchau, meanwhile, says that Spain would fall into a black hole if it tried to follow the EU's deficit target of 4.4% for this year.

There are three stories about the euro crisis: the Republican story, the German story, and the truth. -- Paul Krugman

IFOP, in a study that Le Monde publishes exclusively, demonstrates this. This survey is based on cumulative data from several surveys of voting intentions conducted between January 9 and February 14. In total, 8,052 voters were interviewed. The main result is as follows: in areas about 50 km of an urban area of ​​over 200,000 inhabitants, the three favorites in the first round of the presidential election% u2013 Francois Hollande , and Nicolas Sarkozy Marine Le Pen% u2013 would get virtually the same scores: around 25% each.

It is rightly acknowledged that people of faith have no monopoly of virtue
- Queen Elizabeth II